Madrid, January 11 (Europe Press) –
British Culture Secretary Michelle Donnellan said Wednesday that the looted Parthenon marbles belong to the United Kingdom, so they should not be returned to Greece, ruling out alleged contacts with Greek authorities for cultural exchange.
“It would open the door to questioning all the contents of our museums,” Donnellan said in an interview with BBC Radio 4, adding that this would be a “dangerous path” and would be like exposing Pandora’s Box.
Speculation about an imminent deal for the Elgin Marbles has swirled in recent days after a Greek newspaper reported on talks between George Osborne, the head of the British Museum, and Greek authorities.
The British Museum, which houses one of the world’s most important historical heritage collections, would be willing to make an exchange where Athena would recover the marble in exchange for a loan to London with other pieces.
“(Osborne) isn’t willing to pay it back, basically. That’s not his intention. He has no desire to do that. The concept of a 100-year loan has also been discussed, which isn’t what he’s planning either,” Donnellan explained this Wednesday.
In this way, he states, Osborne agrees that they should not be sent back, as they “belong” to the UK, where they have been cared for “for a long time”. “We have allowed access to these pieces,” he said.
The government of Greece has long advocated its desire for the permanent return of the heritage held by the British Museum, while the museum would prefer some kind of intermediate agreement. Indeed, the UK’s executive also stressed in December that it had no plans to reform the law that limits the permanent return of works of art to very exceptional cases.
The Elgin Marbles is one of the main attractions of the British Museum, which also displays other pieces from ancient Greece and other historical cultures such as Egypt.
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